I left the dorm, with Kanzaki following me, and walked towards the observing deck. The school's statement that the scenery was "highly significant" was no mistake; it surely had something to do with the special exam.
Looking off the deck, I saw a giant island with mountains and tons of forest, but I wasn't paying attention to those. Within the forest, I could see some paths that were definitely artificially made. I kept in mind their location while observing the rest of the island. Looking to my right, I could see Kushida, Ayanokoji, and other Class D members looking off.
Speaking of Kushida, I doubted we would have our phones since the test would likely be survival-related. I stepped back from the deck and went somewhere out of Kushida's sight before taking out my phone. I drafted a quick email.
[Meet me on the 2nd day we are on the island at the beach we are arriving at in the evening]
If I needed Kushida's information at all, I would meet her at the location and acquire it, but if I didn't, I would let her wait there. It was a foolproof plan.
After sending the message, I didn't wait for a response and headed to another observation deck.
The cruise ship circled the island's entire perimeter before stopping on an empty beach.
[Please get off the cruise ship and go over the entire island. Do not bring any personal belongings and wear the uniforms you were given]
After returning to the dorm room and changing, I got off the ship and headed towards the back of the Class B group. Once all the classes were gathered on the beach, the teacher, Class A, spoke to us.
"Your school IDs will be confiscated. In exchange, you'll wear these wristwatches. Those who take them off without permission will be penalized."
I'm sure the other classes have noticed something is off by now. If this was just an island vacation, why would they go through all this trouble to give us safe wristwatches and force us to leave our belongings?
"First, I'm glad all of you made it here. But it's a shame that one of you could not join us due to illness. I want to start the year's first special test!"
When the mention of a "special test" was made, the Class D students immediately started murmuring in confusion while the other classes remained calm. I mean, it was quite obvious.
"huh, special test."
"what? Isn't this a vacation?"
Ignoring the confused students, the Class A teacher continued speaking.
"The testing period will be one week. You'll be living as a group on this deserted island, and from here on out, you'll be responsible for making your own decisions. Now, the survival test begins!"
After he mentioned the survival test, I almost raised my fist joyfully; I had gotten it right on the money.
I joined my fellow classmates as the instruction pamphlet was passed around the group. The premise of the exam was simple. You are given a balance of 300 points; you may use those points to purchase things such as bathrooms and food. All your unused points at the end of the challenge will be added to this class point ranking.
One special niche about this exam caught my eye: the idea of a leader. One leader is selected per class, who claims special spots around the island that give 1 special point per day. The leader is also given a keycard that displays their identity. However, at the end of the exam, the other classes have the chance to guess your leader.
If the guess is successful, they steal 50 points from you, and if not, the guessing team loses 50 points.
If a class were to guess the three leaders of the other classes, they would gain 150 class points or an extra 600,000 private points per month.
This was the perfect chance to make money by dealing with other classes. Through Kushida, I could easily deduce the leader of Class D, the leader of my class would be revealed to me easily. In the other two classes, I could find out through espionage.
However, there was one thing that bothered me about leader selection.
[Leaders cannot be changed unless there is a valid reason]
Does that mean you can change leaders if you have a valid reason? If so, you could easily change leaders at the end of the exam, and instead of possibly losing 150 points, you would only lose 30.
After a minute of thinking, I found my solution to the problem. On the last day of the exam, people were most likely to switch leaders, so I would camp at the entrance of the cruise ship to ensure nothing happened.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard some loudes coming from the Class D group.
"Hirata, you'll get us a bathroom, right?"
"Why do we need to buy a bathroom? It's a waste of points."
On the contrary, Class B smoothly navigated through the purchases as everyone was kind and understanding. This exam would showcase the unity of Class B.
Glancing at class, I noticed the bald "high school student" leading the class. I had heard that two factions were competing for leadership in Class A. The bald faction and the devil faction. Since the bald faction was in control right now, they would need to win this competition to solidify their rule, so they would be my first target.
Stepping back from the distracted Class B, I walked towards Hoshanomiya, who was talking with the Class D teacher. Seeing me walk toward her, Hoshanomiya cheerfully said.
"Have a question, Hikigaya?"
"Can contracts be created on the island?"
Of course, Class A wouldn't make a deal with me for the leader's identities as they would have no guarantee I was correct, so negotiating would be much easier with a contract.
"hmm, contracts can't be made physically, but you can ask a teacher to witness one."
"Thank you, teacher."
"You're not thinking of cheating on the Class, are you Hikigaya?"
I gave Hoshanomiya a bright smile and turned around. Even if she knew I was betraying Class B, she couldn't do anything to stop me as she was just a teacher.
Looking at Class A, who were getting ready to depart, I thought of ways to approach the bald guy, Katsuragi, alone.
Rather than making a deal with them, I would find Class A's leader and blackmail them to get private points. If I were to reveal their leader, they would lose over 150 class points, so they would sacrifice many private points for me not to. The same was true for Classes C and D, but I didn't have a plan for my class yet.
After rejoining my classmates, it seemed their discussion was over, so Ichinose enthusiastically led us into the forest, hoping to find one of the bases you claimed with a leader.
While walking at the group's rear, I saw Hoshanomiya following us as we hadn't given her our leader selection yet. After an hour of walking, we stopped to catch our break and take a break. Some athletic students still had some energy, so they made smaller search groups while we rested.
Leaning against a tree, I could hear the class enthusiastically discussing the special exam, and to my surprise, I could see Kanzaki leaning against a tree that was a few meters away from me.
Seeing me glance at him, Kanzaki took the chance to break the silence and asked.
"What do you think of this exam?"
Since I had given the past midterm answers to Kanzaki, I noticed him being more wary of him, so I decided to give a stupid answer so he would stop bothering me. I wasn't opposed to talking to Kanzaki, but if I talked to Kanzaki about something important, it would be immediately transmitted to Ichinose, who would then share it with the entire class.
"It seems like it's testing the unity of each class."
For some reason, Kanzaki nodded his head and began thinking about my response. I wanted to tell Kanzaki I was trying to be sarcastic, but he seemed to have already taken it to heart.
In my opinion, this exam tested a student's reading skills and techniques. To guarantee 2nd or 3rd place in the exam, you could have your leader eat some herb and get sick, so you could change. Then, your class would have 270 points minus maybe 50 for supplies. Then, if you guessed two leaders correctly, you were basically in first place.
Finding two leaders would be hard for regular students, but I had Kushida for one and confidence in my spying and deduction skills for the other.
A loud shout pulled Kanzaki and me back into the real world.
"Guys, we found a base over here."
Shibata, the central male figure of our class, led us through one of the artificial paths I had spotted earlier. Eventually, we reached a river and a small electronic podium that was off to the side.
Hoshanomiya, who seemed indifferent to the walking, asked.
"Who will be the leader for Class B?"
Immediately, boys and girls alike came up with one answer.
"Ichinose"
Kanzaki shut this idea down, though.
"That would be too obvious. Don't forget we lose 50 points if our leader is guessed."
I actually didn't think having her as a leader would be that bad of an idea as reverse psychology could work, but at the same time, better safe than sorry.
Ichinose gestured for everyone to form a huddle and spoke.
"I think it should be someone lowkey like Hikigaya or Shiranami."
I was prepared to raise my hands to decline immediately. The leader would have to get up every 8 hours to renew the spot at the podium, and I would not get up in the middle of the night to do that. Thankfully, before I could deny it, a quiet voice spoke up.
"i-i'll d-do i-it"
With that, Hoshanomiya left, and Ichinose began discussing ideas on how to hide our leader. Since the leader's identity was most vulnerable when the spot was being renewed, the group decided to have the 5 same people surround the podium every time to ensure that the identity was concealed.
"I think me, Kanzaki, Himeno, and Shibata should be the distractions."
I thanked god once again that I wasn't selected. I saw the 5 students walk toward the podium, so I followed after to observe. After watching them claim the location, I realized that there was one flaw with this plan.
The timer on the podium would easily reveal who the leader was. You could count each person's time and check the podium's timer afterward.
Back at the beach, Class B decided to spend 110 points on bathrooms, tents, and food rations. That wasn't a bad amount, but it could have been lower if people had let go of their dignity.
Since Kanzaki and Ichinose were assigning roles, I volunteered to find food as it would allow me to explore the island. I could find 2 sets of artificial pathways from my observing on the cruise ship, so I would go if either of them were held by Class A or C, as those were the two unknown leaders.
[A/N: Check out my new book if you're bored. For some reason, it's not my profile, but search "The Last Question: Ascension" or use this link: https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-last-quest-ascension_29426287600259705]